Mekong River Commission

Senior management changes at Cambodian Fisheries Administration

Srun Limsong, Kaing Khim and Kao Sochivi have been appointed as deputy directors general of the Cambodian Fisheries Administration. With seven deputies to Director General Nao Thuok, who is also the fisheries adviser to Prime Minister Hun Sen, the agency now has a senior management structure similar to most Cambodian government ministries.

His Excellency Srun Limsong, who has also been appointed as deputy secretary-general of Cambodia's national committee for the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP), was previously director of the administration’s Inland Fisheries Research and Development Institute (IFReDI). He was also a member of the MRC Technical Advisory Body for Fisheries Management (TAB). In his new position as deputy director general, he is in charge of overseeing the aquaculture development activities of the Fisheries Administration. He remains with the MRC Fisheries Programme as the national programme coordinator and component coordinator for Cambodia.

Ms Kaing Khim, who is also chief of the Fisheries Administration Women’s Association and national director of the Fisheries Management and Governance Component of the MRC Fisheries Programme, was previously deputy director of the Community Fisheries Development Office. In her new position, she oversees all MRC Fisheries Programme activities in Cambodia. She has also been appointed as one of the country's three TAB members. Ms Kaing Khim has been working with MRC Fisheries Programme in the fields of capture fisheries, aquaculture, management and gender promotion since 1996.

Dr Kao Sochivi, who is also deputy chief of the Fisheries Administration Women’s Association and national technical advisor to the Community-Based Natural Resource Management Learning Institute of Cambodia, was previously deputy director of the Institute of Fisheries Post-Harvest Technologies. In her new position, she is in charge of IFReDI and the Department of Fisheries Post-Harvest Technology and Quality Control. Dr Sochivi joined the then Department of Fisheries in 1994 and was responsible for the Asian Institute of Technology Aquaculture Outreach Programme in Cambodia for two years.

Among the other deputy directors general of the Fisheries Administration, Sam Nuov is responsible for planning, accounting and international cooperation, Ing Try oversees conservation and marine fisheries, Eng Cheasan heads the fisheries domain and fisheries affairs departments as well as Tonle Sap research while Long Chheang is in charge of administration. Dr Sam Nuov is also the senior Cambodian member of the TAB.

HE Srun Lim Song Photo: Lem Chamnap	Ms Kaing Khim Photo: Lem Chamnap	Dr Kao Sochivi Photo: Lem Chamnap

 

Chris Barlow

Chris Barlow has been appointed Fisheries Manager with the Australian Centre for International Agriculture Research (ACIAR) in Canberra after eight and a half years with the MRC Fisheries Programme. Dr Barlow joined the programme in early 2001 as senior programme officer in Phnom Penh where he was mainly responsible for communications. His wide experience in international fisheries research and development, including several Southeast Asian countries, was the ideal background for helping to launch what are now many of the commission's flagship publications, notably the MRC Technical Paper series. Books and films have also been produced and much material has been translated into riparian languages.

In mid-2003, Dr Barlow became programme manager, succeeding Jeaninke Dahl-Kristensen. In his six years as manager in Phnom Penh and Vientiane, Dr Barlow worked closely with three different CEOs and several division directors as well as various international experts. Despite constant funding cuts, he found balanced compromises, keeping the programme on track and delivering significant outputs. His dynamic leadership along with his scientific and technical inputs into the programme made a tremendous contribution to the sustainable development of fisheries in the Lower Mekong Basin. Dr Barlow also provided significant technical assistance to the line agencies and Mekong fisheries in general. In addition, he oversaw the development of annual omnibus editions of Catch and Culture in Khmer, Lao, Thai and Vietnamese.

MRC chief executive officer Jeremy Bird said Dr Barlow had been a "driving force" behind the success of Fisheries Programme. "He has helped raise awareness of the critical importance of the basin's fisheries for peoples' livelihoods as well as its diversity," Mr Bird said. "At an institutional level, he has built a strong network of committed professionals among fisheries agencies in the four member countries to continue this important partnership. Chris will be sadly missed at MRC, but we wish him all the best in the next stage of his career in Australia".

For his invaluable contribution to to the programme and fisheries development in the basin, Dr Barlow has received various medals, certificates and awards from riparian governments. The programme congratulates him on his prestigious new position in Australia and wishes him every success in the new assignment. With ACIAR's portfolio of many projects in the region, staff of the programme and line agencies in the countries will no doubt see Dr Barlow again soon.

Dr Barlow (second from right) and Dr Halls (right) with MRC Fisheries Programme Coordinator
Xaypladeth Choulamany (left) and MRC Operations Director Do Manh Hung (second from left)
Photo: Lem Chamnap

 

Ashley Halls

Ashley Halls has returned to England where he will continue to work as a consultant for the MRC Fisheries Programme while running his consulting company Aquae Sulis Ltd from Wiltshire in southwest England. Dr Halls joined the programme in Phnom Penh in early 2007 as coordinator of the Fisheries Ecology, Valuation and Mitigation (FEVM) Component. His experience, scientific skills and hard work enabled him to bring the component and its outcomes to the forefront of planning discussions in the basin. His contribtion to Mekong fisheries science was deeply appreciated by all the line agencies

Before joining the MRC, Dr Halls had taken part in several regional meetings, notably the Large Rivers Symposium, where he shared experience acquired in lake and floodplain management in South Asia, particularly Bangladesh, as well as Africa and other parts of the world. Under his close guidance and technical support, the FEVM component made considerable achievements. Among the latest is a collaborative study with the WorldFish Center on modelling the cumulative effects of mainstream dams on migratory fish populations in the Lower Mekong Basin. As acknowledged by MRC chief executive officer Jeremy Bird during the programme’s annual meeting in Siem Reap in June, recent efforts by the Fisheries Programme to develop a model to forecast how fish will respond to the potential changes from dams are now central to the MRC’s river management planning. The study itself will soon be published as MRC Technical Paper No. 25. 

To help with important further studies in the basin, Dr Halls will continue working for the programme on a part-time basis while serving as director of his consulting company. His new contacts in Britain are listed in the new 2008 edition of the Fisheries Programme Staff Directory alongside those for national programme coordinators and coordinators. He returns to Wiltshire with his wife, two sons and a daughter born in Bangkok.